In a week when top EU policy-makers from European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet to Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes stressed the importance of innovation to boost Europe's competitiveness in a challenging economic climate, this Policy Brief by Fabian Zuleeg argues that while the EU has come a long way in the last decade, progress needs to be accelerated.

This Commentary by Antonio Missiroli argues that Javier Solana’s Report to the December EU Summit on the European Security Strategy (ESS) could help significantly to reconfigure EU-US relations in the post-Bush era as well as fostering greater coherence, coordination, and capabilities in EU policy-making.

It was a quintessential case of good and bad news: on the one hand, the 15-16 October European Council agreed on the financial rescue package, thus sending a loud and clear message about EU leaders’ determination to tackle the crisis. On the other, they displayed growing disunity over the energy and climate package, thus sending a much less clear message to the outside world about their willingness to lead by example in this area.

With the global financial crisis high on the agenda at the 15-16 October EU Summit, this Commentary by Hans Martens and Fabian Zuleeg supports European Commission President José Manuel Barroso’s claim that the euro has been “a key steadying force”, preventing a currency crisis adding to the problems caused by the credit crunch.

As EU leaders prepare to sign a new ‘Immigration Pact’ at the 15-16 October European Council, this Policy Brief by Elizabeth Collett analyses the pact’s content and what the changes made to the initial French Presidency draft tell us about the current state of the EU immigration debate.

This Issue Paper by Jørgen Henningsen argues that there is still some way to go to translate this into efficient policy responses, and contains a number of recommendations for action to achieve the EU’s target for cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

This Commentary by Fabian Zuleeg and Marie-Hélène Fandel argues that the focus should not primarily be on less regulation, but on better regulation to achieve the EU’s policy objectives while avoiding unnecessary administrative burdens, to avoid the risk that changes designed to reduce bureaucracy will in fact make necessary legislation less effective.

The extraordinary European Council held this week to discuss relations with Russia and the conflict in Georgia surprised many by ending in consensus of all 27 Member States, with conclusions that combined political principles with clear operational steps. However, argues this commentary by Antonio Missiroli, it is unclear whether such unity can hold, especially if the conditions of the ceasefire are not met, and, in any case, the situation will have long-term consequences for the EU’s internal and external policies.